PWD, Information Technology and Energy Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said in the State Assembly this evening the Government was going to introduce computer friendly education in the State.

PWD, Information Technology and Energy Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said in the State Assembly this evening the Government was going to introduce computer friendly education in the State.

He said Government was also in dialogue with several agencies in the country for generation of 5,000 MW of power. He added, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan would request the Prime Minister for coal linkage for the proposed 1,000 MW power projects in Malwa region. The Central Electricity Tribunal had already been given clearance for the project.

Speaking on the demand for grants for departments he is heading Vijayvargiya said the Government was working to improve the education system. The Assembly passed the demand for grants for the departments Energy, PWD and IT with a voice vote.

He said the new IT policy would be declared soon and IT would be used for transparent administration in the State.

It would not be only for the upper class people but rural people too would also be associated with the same. A bilingual software would be developed for rural people’s participation in e-governance.

In the next four years there would be an investment of Rs 2,010 crore in the field of IT. In the first phase Vallabh Bhavan would be fully computerised.

The Government was concerned over brain drain of engineers from the State. The State had more than 40 engineering colleges and wanted to create job avenues for students and IT parks would be established in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur.

He said the generation of power in the State had gone up by 1200 MW from 3490.46 MW as existed during the then Digvijay Singh headed Congress Government to 4641 MW of power.

The Government was exploring every avenue to generate power. The 500 MW of Sanjay Gandhi project would be commissioned by November 2006. Work was going on 210 MW Amarkantak project.

Work was also going on hydel power projects while work on Maheshwar project had also started. Maheshwar project was expected to generate power from 2010-11.

Most probably bhoomipoojan of 1,000 MW power project in Malwa region would be performed in the current financial year. The Minister thanked the Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram for selecting Madhya Pradesh as one of the four states for a 4000 MW power project.

The State was expected to have 1200 MW of power as its share. Talks were in process for a 2000 MW Atomic Energy plant at Shivpuri. In 2008 the state would be independent in the field of energy.

He said in comparison to the last budget for roads during the then Congress Government the budget had been increased three fold. The duration of new BOT roads would be extended from 15 years to 30 years. While 10,000 kilometers of roads had been constructed in the past two years the next three years would see construction of 30,000 km of roads.

In the past two years Rs 1,841 crore were spent on construction of roads. At present the PWD was constructing 13,190 km of road and Rs 2,330.88 crore was expected to be spent on the same.

He said Government had allocated a budget of Rs 980.27 crore for the financial year 2006-07. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had also sanctioned a loan of Rs 900 crore for development of roads.